Jan and Mark Scriven opened their first Board & Brush franchise in Cedar Park in June 2016—on their 27th wedding anniversary—after running pizza businesses outside Texas. They first learned of Board & Brush from a neighbor who founded the company after hosting neighborhood sign-making parties.
Board & Brush offers instructor-led, do-it-yourself workshops where guests can pick from hundreds of projects and dozens of paint colors to create their wooden home decor. During every three-hour workshop, guests can distress, sand, stain, stencil and paint their selected project. “Each person gets to choose what they want,” studio manager Rochelle Tramel said. “They get to create it to their liking.”
The Scrivens later expanded with locations in Belton, Round Rock and North Austin. Behind the scenes, the owners and studio managers prepare the wooden projects and print stencils for each guest ready to start at their workshop. Workshops can host up to 32 people at the Cedar Park studio, and each guest can pick a different project, Jan Scriven said.In addition to their popular pick-your-project workshops, the studio also hosts specialty workshops, mini-sign workshops for kids and private or semi-private group workshops.
Widespread supply chain issues have impacted the wood-project business such as limiting its stock of lumber and increased prices, though Jan Scriven said it is getting better. Shortages or increased costs of gloves, paint, tray handles and hooks also affected the studios.
“Sometimes you can find them, but they might cost three times or twice what you normally pay for them,” Jan Scriven said.
But the owners did not raise prices as a result of these challenges, Jan Scriven said. All workshop projects cost $68, but there is now a $5 surcharge for premium projects such as boxes, trays or coat racks, which utilize extra embellishments.
One of the “pandemic pivots” the studio owners made was selling take-home kits with everything needed to make a project at home. These cost $30 with paint or $25 without paint and also can be used as gifts, Jan Scriven said.
She also said some people who feel talented or do not feel “arts and craftsy” enjoy the workshops the most. People leave workshops feeling accomplished saying, “I did this” and feeling proud of themselves, which brings them back for more projects, Jan Scriven said.
She added, “I have always said since the day we started, that the best thing about this business is the way it makes people feel when they walk out the door.”
Board & Brush
2011 Little Elm Trail, Unit 107, Cedar Park
512-529-1282
https://boardandbrush.com/cedarpark
